nissan ariya walkaround
Carsales Staff14 Jul 2020
NEWS

Model Preview: Design chief talks Nissan Ariya

One of Nissan’s most important vehicles in decades debuts tomorrow... In anticipation, we caught up with its design chief

Nissan Ariya, the first of a new generation of electric vehicles from the Japanese giant, debuts tomorrow.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of this car. Not only should it deliver an affordable and practical all-electric family-size SUV into the Australian marketplace.

The Nissan Ariya debuts the EV platform that will power a host of Nissan, Renault and potentially Mitsubishi models into the second half of the decade.

2019 nissan ariya concept 0

Nissan has already teased the Ariya’s new face and showed off its silhouette, and we’ve also reported on the patent filings that apply to it.

Tomorrow we finally get to see the full production version of the X-TRAIL-sized Nissan Ariya, that thanks to its flat-floored EV-specific platform and twin-motor powertrain is claimed to deliver near GT-R levels of acceleration and the cabin space of a vehicle one size bigger.

2019 nissan ariya concept 3

The production version is heavily influenced by the Nissan Ariya concept SUV that was unveiled pre-COVID at the 2019 Tokyo motor show, where we caught up with Nissan’s senior vice-president of design, Alfonso Albaisa, for this preview interview.

Albaisa is an effusive exec but it’s hard not to get excited about this Tesla Model Y rival, which will come Down Under – probably sometime in 2021.

2019 nissan ariya concept 2

Just how excited should you be?

The answer should be clear after 3:00pm AEST tomorrow afternoon.

Related reading:
Nissan Ariya prototype 2021 Review
Nissan Ariya face teased

Tags

Nissan
Ariya
Car News
Hatchback
Electric Cars
Written byCarsales Staff
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